Yoskay Yamamoto's Koibito is half coi fish/half boy and all awesome. For the upcoming Hi-Fructose vol.10, famed photographer Brian McCarty braved the not-so cold December waters of a Los Angeles pool just for the shot for us. To celebrate the release of the Koibito at Melrose's Munky King tonight December 12th, we're offering a free download of the image for screenshot/wallpaper use as well as a download image for your Iphone courtesy of Brian. Get the behind the scenes Q & A on the shot and links for the downloads here!

Yoskay Yamamoto's Koibito is half coi fish/half boy and all awesome. For the upcoming Hi-Fructose vol.10, famed photographer Brian McCarty braved the not-so cold December waters of a Los Angeles pool just for the shot for us. To celebrate the release of the Koibito at Melrose's Munky King tonight December 12th, we're offering a free download of the image for screenshot/wallpaper use as well as a download image for your Iphone courtesy of Brian. Get the behind the scenes Q & A on the shot and links for the downloads below.

Download McCarty's Koibito shot for 1024 x 768 monitors here.

HF: Wasn't the coi half of the fish slowly poisoned by the chlorine in the pool?

Brian: Ugh, I'm so happy that I abandoned my original shot concept. I wanted actual fish floating around him, but the chlorine is horribly toxic to fish. They literally melt. After searching in vain for a fresh water pool, I moved away from the idea. The shot could have been pulled off, but I would have felt like crap brutally killing the fish.

Koibito himself seemed to be immune. Perhaps he inherited an immunity from his human side.

HF: Who's pool was that?

Brian: It was Dave Pressler and Lisa Henson's pool.

HF: Who's that lady in the background? Is she tail-less mermaid?

Brian: The woman in the background is the lovely Zury from Munky King. She bravely stepped up at the last minute to model in the freezing water.

My intention was to play off of Yoskay's concept for Koibito. The character is meant to express a sense of alienation, being a fish out of water. The woman and Koibito are disconnected despite their closeness. Despite being half-fish, somewhat at home in the water, Koibito chooses to stay an observer, to stay disconnected from his surroundings. The woman is more free to experience the world, even though she is also alien to it.

HF: How long did it take to set up the shot? Hanging out in a pool all day in December in LA must've been...errr, warm?

Brian: It was mighty cool. This is the second underwater shot that I've done that ended with hypothermia. Sooner or later I need to buy damn wetsuit! All told, the shot took about three hours. I knew exactly what I wanted going in, and the majority of the time was spent preparing the gear and toy. This version of Koibito was still a prototype, rotocast from hard plastic. To keep him from floating to the surface, we drilled a very small hole at the base of his head, and Mika held him underwater to shake out the air. I doubt the prototype will ever completely drain!

Brian McCarty and Mika at the photoshoot